Emmy Catch-Up: Squid Game

Squid Game: Season 1, Episode 4 “Stick to the Team” (B)

This episode got off to a violent start, one that was all about the players beating each other up rather than being terrorized by the guards. It wasn’t too surprising to learn that they had manipulated things to incite unrest by purposely giving them less food, and Player 101 wasn’t about to clarify that he hadn’t taken seconds before bludgeoning the person who dared to question him to death. It was interesting to see Player 1 get up and tell them all to stop or they would die, and he was the absolute MVP of the team when he calmly explained how they could win tug-of-war without being physically superior to the other team. It feels like each of the games is getting deadlier, with machine gun fire taking out anyone who was moving in the first, gunshots to the head felling them in the second, and now everyone falling to their brutal deaths when the rope got cut and they got pulled all the way forward. Though we didn’t see exactly how this one ended, I have a feeling that the team featuring most of the regular players isn’t going to end up losing. Player 101 may have a doctor with inside information on his team, but he managed to alienate Player 212 quite egregiously, to the point that she’s promised to kill him following his betrayal. I’m curious to see if this group of ten will remain together or if they’re going to part their ways when the next challenge forces them to be more cutthroat.